My friend shared a clip from the film, "My Dinner With Andre", on Facebook today. I saw My Dinner With Andre way back 1981 when it came out and was astounded because I kept thinking while watching that those were my people up there; I thought, in this world people actually talk like me, and also that some people actually have these kinds of conversations at dinner.

I thought this kind of thing was so rare that you only encountered it once in a blue moon in urban restaurants with urbane people taking a frantic pause from their self-important lives over a meal they could hardly eat in between breaths punctuated by white water duologues.

Eves dropping in restaurants is a fun pastime. Usually, one only hears your average war stories, complaints, gossip or cargo cult chatter. Whenever I hear a dinner with Andre conversation I can't help but smile, exchange glances with the participants at the nearby table, as if to say, I'd come over there and join you if I were not so utterly respectful of those kinds of moments.

(Today, I suppose, this would be equivalent to not asking a famous person to take a selfie with you.)

For me it's also interesting to note that when one reads Rousseau, Aristotle or another pillar of thought, it's hard to ignore how much they got right and how even NOW much of their thought is still relevant. For me, this film will always be sharp, amusing, poignant and up-to-date.

Steven is an autodidact, skeptic, raconteur and film producer from America who has been traveling since he was a zygote. He's a producer at The Muse Films Ltd. in Hong Kong and a constantly improving (hopefully) Globe Hacker. He's seeks the company of interesting minds.